


thankless job

by markothy



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Brothers, Domestic, Fluff, Gen, Protective Siblings, Seo Youngho | Johnny & Mark Lee (NCT) Are Brothers, Siblings, johnny don't want anything to happen to his precious baby brother, lapslock
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-20
Updated: 2018-08-20
Packaged: 2019-06-30 06:02:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15745746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/markothy/pseuds/markothy
Summary: stressed out older brother johnny trying to balance college classes, 2 jobs, and raising his little brother; he never wants mark to see how stressed he really is, though, so he hides it with smiles and jokes. but johnny didn’t raise no fool, so mark catches on pretty quickly - they’re tight on money and he wants to help his brother as much as possible.





	thankless job

**Author's Note:**

> i'm back at it again with wholesome johnmark brothers!!! it's the only thing i care to write about right now. sorry, i know i promised kun porn sooner or later, but i've been on a fluff streak that can't be stopped!
> 
> this was converted from another fic i wrote in kim's dms (thanks kim ily), so please forgive the grammar & awkward structure, i really didn't feel like cleaning this up.
> 
> anyway, this is a dumb lil drabble that i wanted to get out of my drafts, but thanks to kim (@feb9ths), it kinda grew into a whole au? if i feel up to it, i'll post more of this au (it includes some very cute johnil).

stressed out older brother johnny trying to balance college classes, 2 jobs, and raising his little brother; he never wants mark to see how stressed he really is, though, so he hides it with smiles and jokes. but johnny didn’t raise no fool, so mark catches on pretty quickly - they’re tight on money and he wants to help his brother as much as possible.

mark is 15 while johnny is 19/20(?), so johnny insists that mark shouldn’t worry about working, focus on school & his studies instead. however, mark is stubborn, so that doesn’t really fly well with him - he feels like he should be helping out. 

the first time he gets a job, he doesn’t tell johnny about it. this also means that the first time mark comes home late after a shift, johnny is worried out of his goddamn mind because he had no clue where mark was.

mark is like, “dude, chill, i just stayed at a friend’s house so we could study.”

johnny lets it slide - for now.

then mark starts leaving cash on the table before he leaves for school in the morning, so when johnny wakes up or comes home from an overnight shift, he sees the money on the table, and he just, “huh.”

at first, johnny thinks the worst - his brother’s gotten into some shady business, selling drugs on the street. the routine continues, johnny waking up to a wad of bills on the table, and it makes him more and more anxious as time goes on. he thinks, mind running a mile a minute, “oh, _ fuck _ , my brother’s getting into selling drugs, i’m neglecting him, is he rebelling against me, what am i doing wrong?”

once again, mark comes home late again one night. however, instead of johnny being asleep like he normally would, he’s waiting for mark and the table and he doesn’t mean to come off angry, but he’s just, “where the fuck were you?”

mark answers defensively with something like, “i was… out with fr-,”

“no you weren’t. friends don’t give you wads of cash to come home with every night, what the fuck makes you think you’re so slick, doing that shit?”

mark tries to act dumb. “what wads of cash? i don’t know anythi-,”

johnny pulls out the money that’s been stacking up from mark’s wages - of course, considering johnny believed it was drug money, he was stubborn and never used it. mark immediately shuts his mouth, but that only makes johnny even more furious.

“you’re getting this shit from the street?” he blows up. “mark, i swear to god, if you’re selling-,”

mark opens and closes his mouth like a fish gasping for air, and honestly, that makes johnny loses it even more, because he just,

“ _ mark _ ,” it’s angry and loud but it gets caught in his throat like a sob because he’s confused, he’s terrified, and he doesn’t realize he’s still yelling this out loud until-

“i got a job.” mark says meekly.

“what?”

“i got.” mark sets his jaw and finally looks at johnny for the first time that night. “a job.”

and if humans had loading screens, there’d be a big, fat buffer wheel smeared on johnny’s forehead because he just stands there for a second, incredulously staring at his brother. then, he’s collapsing into mark, breathing out an “oh my god,” and he hugs his brother tightly.

mark gulps and continues, johnny still, just, “oh my god” into mark’s shoulder. “it’s at that corner shop - y’know, the one hyuck’s uncle owns… said he’d hook me up with a job if i could handle long hours, so, i… said yes.”

johnny sits back and looks at his brother, like, “i told you i could handle it, though. the only thing you need to do is-,”

“focus on my studies, i know, i know.” mark cuts him off. “i just saw how badly you were hurting for money and two jobs aren’t cutting it and i just got scared and-,”

“oh  _ baby _ ,” johnny pulls mark into another hug, but it’s more just johnny holding him, cradling him to his chest, hand reaching up to ruffle and smooth mark’s hair. “why didn’t you tell me? i feel horrible for blowing up at you.”

mark sniffles and, “i didn’t want you to get mad. didn’t want to give you another thing to worry about.”

“dude, i might work 2 jobs,” johnny laughs, pulling mark away to look down at him with a grin. “but it’s my _ job _ to worry about you.”

**Author's Note:**

> if you wanna talk or yell at me, my twitter is [here](https://twitter.com/shiiningfive) and my curiouscat is [here](https://curiouscat.me/shiiningfive)!


End file.
